Running From Trouble
by MrsDragneel1203
Summary: Before there was the Statue of Secrecy, people performed magic openly, causing muggles to hunt down witches and wizards. Before there were regulations and rules, there was terror and fear. This is one of the many stories of what happened during that time.


**Disclaimer:**** Did Harry forgive Ron after he was an arse to him about the Triwizard Tournament? He did? Then, I do not own Harry Potter.**

**A/N:**** This story was written for round seven of the International Wizarding School Championship Forum.**

**Word Count:**** 2663 **

**School:**** Ilvermorny**

**Theme:**** Crisis Era 1300 - 1692**

**Year:**** 2**

**Main Prompt:**** Thriller/Suspense [Genre]**

**Additional Prompt:**** Thunderstorm [Weather]**

* * *

The sound of footsteps hurrying through the forest was the only sound permeating the air, other than the harsh panting belonging to the same person.

Leaves were crunched underfoot and branches were stumbled over, but the person continued onwards, not willing to stop for a moment.

There was a flash of lightning overhead and the 'boom' of thunder that followed almost alarmingly close, but the flash of light illuminated the fleeing human for just an instant.

It was a woman, her dark hair pulled up into a bun at the back of her head with a few loose strands flowing near her face. She had her nightdress bunched up in one hand to, presumably, keep from tripping and falling. There were a bundle of blankets in her other arm, clutched close to her chest. There was a worn satchel at her back, the strap on her shoulder

It was raining. Not hard enough for travel to be difficult, not light enough to form mist, but just enough for the woman's face and clothes to be damp.

The woman stopped running, her harsh breaths loud in the otherwise quiet forest. Her body was leaned against a tree, bowed as she gulped in deep breaths. She shifted the bundle of blankets to her other arm and adjusted the strap on her shoulder, glancing behind her in the darkness as she did.

Lightning flashed across the sky again and bathed the forest along with its inhabitants with light. The woman was once again exposed, along with something a little surprising; the blankets in the crook of her arm were swathed around a young child, no older than two years of age, his face relaxed in sleep.

'**BOOM!'**

The woman jumped at the sound of the thunder; the unexpected noise had caught her off guard. It took longer for the sound of thunder to follow the lightning strike at that time. The child in her arms stirred slightly and his face twitched but remained asleep. The woman sighed at that and glanced the way she ran from once again.

"I hate this," she whispered to herself quietly, thinking of what she left behind.

_~Flashback~_

_The woman was sitting in her home at a desk near a window, writing something down using quill and parchment. Because of the sun that had set long ago and brought about the darkening sky, the woman had a lit candle sitting beside her on the desk and many others scattered around the room._

_The woman paused in her writing and glanced out the window. There wasn't any natural light outside due to heavy clouds coming in and blocking the moon and stars._

"_Hm," the woman murmured to herself. "Could be a sign for rain. I do hope August remembers to charm the roof for later, I do not want to wake up to rainwater dripping upon my face."_

_Everything was fine. It was a quiet evening, maybe the sounds of a few birds outside. _

_Everything was peaceful._

_Until it wasn't._

_The door to her home banged opened, startling the woman so badly she jumped in fear with a scream prepared to let loose from her mouth._

_But it was never released, for she realized who the figure standing in the doorway was._

"_Oh my goodness, August," she said as she stood to meet him, a hand over her rapidly beating heart. "You frightened me."_

_However, as she approached the man she married, she realized something was wrong. His normally smiling and joyful face was set with a panicked expression, there was tension visible in his shoulders, and his hands were shaking._

_The woman frowned. "August?" she asked tentatively. "Is there something the matter? Why did you come rushing in here like that so hurriedly?"_

"_Eliza," August breathed. He shut the door that was still ajar and quickly wrapped his wife up in his arms._

"_August?" the woman, Eliza, asked, worry clear in her tone. "What is going on? You're starting to frighten me."_

"_Forgive me my love but I cannot offer you any reassurances," August said as he pulled away to stare into her eyes. "We need to leave." _

_L-Leave?" Eliza questioned. "What...I don't understand."_

"_We've been found," he said, his voice shaky. "They'll be coming for us soon."_

"_August!" Eliza backed away from him, her face set in a slight scowl. "Enough of talking in riddles! Please, give me a straight answer about the situation that has you looking pale as a ghost!"_

"_I...I am so sorry, my love," August said, running a hand through his hair in agitation. "My nerves are running high right now. The village is on high alert because someone saw Corvus performing magic."_

"_Corvus!" Eliza exclaimed. "Is he mad?! I thought you said you couldn't perform magic out in the open and risk exposure?"_

"_I don't know what he was trying to do, but it doesn't matter," August said. "They have him in the cells and will start questioning him; it's only a matter of time before he tells all."_

"_But, why do we need to leave?" Eliza asked in confusion. "You weren't the one performing magic and I am not a witch."_

"_My love," August took her face in his hands. "The muggles fear people with the ability to do magic. Even the _suggestion_ of someone who might be able to do the feat will be persecuted harshly. You being my wife will make you evil in their eyes to consort with the unnatural -"_

"_And Issac?" Eliza questioned with a worried warble in her tone. _

_August closed his eyes in fear. "Our son will not escape the fate they want for him."_

_Eliza stepped back in shock, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Issac is but a babe," she protested. "Not even twenty-four months old!"_

"_It's why we need to leave," August said, his voice slightly more steady. "Before they come to seek us out. We will be gone from here."_

_Eliza took a breath before nodding. "Alright," she said softly. "What must we do?"_

"_Go collect Isaac," her husband insisted as he started moving about the room. "I will gather some things we will need on our travels. Quickly now, we must not delay any longer."_

"_I understand."_

_Eliza hurried from the room as her husband started gathering things in a worn leather satchel. She quickly entered the room where her son was slumbering and took a moment to stare at his face. He had her dark hair color and her eyes, which would be obvious if he were awake. He had his father's facial structure; his jawline, his nose, even the shape of his mouth. _

_Remembering what her husband said about being quick, she gently picked her son out of his small wooden crib. She settled her slumbering son against her shoulder before gathering his blankets and went back to her husband._

_By the time she went back, her husband had his wand out and was pointing it towards the interior of the bag. "What are you doing?" she questioned him._

"_It's a stasis charm," he explained. "I have placed food in here; the charm will keep them fresh until we take them out. I have also placed a feather-light charm on it so it will not be heavy, as well as an extension charm to make more room in the satchel."_

"_Oh?" Eliza couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice if she tried. Her husband always talked about his feats of magic as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And to him it was, she supposes. But she herself is a muggle and hadn't known magic existed until after she married him._

_August, hearing the amusement in her voice, flashed her a smile. But before they could do anything else, harsh banging on their door sounded._

"_August!" a voice on the other side shouted. "Open up! We know about you, you pretender! Open this door!"_

_Eliza paled. "Oh no," she moaned, her grip on her son tightened unconsciously. "No. We are too late."_

_August face was pale for a few seconds before it hardened into a determined expression. "No," he said quietly, his voice hardly heard over the pounding on the door. "It is not too late, not for you. You can still run."_

"_What!" Eliza exclaimed, just as quiet as her husband. Her eyes never strayed from the banging door. "I cannot just _leave_ -"_

"_Yes you can," August said firmly. "You can escape by means of the cellar, it leads to the back of our home. You can take refuge in the forest just behind here and run to the nearest village north of here. They are friendly to witches and wizards."_

"_But," Eliza said, flinching when there was a particularly harsh bang upon the door, "I cannot just leave you! _I_ need you! _Isaac _needs you!"_

"_What Isaac needs is to be _safe_," August says softly. The shouting coming from the other side of the door continued to grow louder. "As do you, my love. This is the only way."_

"_I cannot bear to lose you," she whispered as she clutched her son tight to her body. All the loud noises were starting to stir him from his slumber before. August quickly raised his wand and pointed it at him, a murmured word leaving his lips and the child fell back asleep. "You two need to go _now_. The spell I've placed on Isaac will keep him asleep but it will not last long."_

"_That's it!" the voice outside yelled. "If you will not open this door, we will do it for you!"_

"_Go now," August said urgently, steering his wife towards the entrance to the cellar. He placed the strap of the satchel on her shoulder. "I will stall them for as long as I can but you need to run."_

"_I love you," Eliza whispered brokenly._

_Her husband's eyes softened. "As do I, my love."_

_Harsh banging, louder and more forceful than before started up._

_August pressed a quick kiss to her forward. "Go, quickly. Before the storm sets in."_

_~Flashback End~_

Eliza had done what her husband had said. She was able to get out through the cellar and escape into the forest behind their home and hadn't looked back once. She hasn't stopped running, hasn't taken a break, until now.

Leaning against the tree behind her, she continued to gulp in mass amounts of air into her abused lungs. Fear for her child and the need to keep him safe has kept her mind off her exhaustion but it was all catching up to her. She has never exerted herself like this before and her body was protesting against the sudden exercise.

She can't quite recall how long she's been running, whether it has been minutes or hours, and she can't bring herself to care. She's left the place that's been her home for five years. She left the love of her life behind against people who both hate and fear magic in equal measures. For all she knew, her husband was dead.

She didn't know how long she was resting against the tree before she heard something that chilled her to her bones. Faint shouting, coming from the direction she ran from. Peering around the tree, she also saw faint pinpricks of light.

Torches.

"Oh god," she whispered in fear. Hitching the strap of the satchel higher upon her shoulder and shifting Isaac more securely in her arm, she gathered her nightdress before taking off in a run again. But she was still exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and the sounds of running footsteps and voices were getting closer.

"_Where could the wench have gone?!"_

"_That blasted husband of hers was of no help!"_

"_Watch the ground lads! Maybe she could have left foot indentations in the wet ground!"_

The voices Eliza heard only made her run harder and faster, her head turning to look over her shoulder every few seconds.

That proved to a mistake.

While she was glancing behind her, she missed the sight of a branch that snapped loudly in the silent forest when she stepped upon it. Eliza froze in fear for a second.

"_Did you hear that?"_

"_What was that?"_

"_Was it the wife?"_

Lightning chose that moment to flash across the sky, illuminating everything in the forest for a split second. Including Eliza and Isaac.

"_I see her!"_

"_Up ahead! Quick, after her!"_

The exclamations spurred Eliza onwards once more, her feet pounding harshly against the forest floor. Her breathing came in harsh breaths, her wide eyes focused on the ground in front of her, lest she trips and falls.

She ran for a while, commendable when you count in her exhaustion, but eventually, they caught up with her.

"Freeze wench!"

Eliza stopped, her panting loud in the tense silence. _'Oh no,' _she thought miserably.

"Turn around witch! Lest we burn you where you stand!"

She did as they said, turning around slowly with her son clutched close to her chest.

There were three of them, all carrying torches in their hands, their faces illuminated by the flickering flames.

"I am not a witch," Eliza said weakly, knowing her argument wasn't going to do much.

"Lies and slander!" one of the men spat at her. "You and your kind need to be purged from this earth! You and every other unnatural!"

Eliza closed her eyes to force back tears. "Please," she begged as her eyes opened again. "I have done nothing wrong!"

"Silence! You are coming with us to face your crimes!" one of them said and stepped forward with his hand outstretched to grab her.

Just as she stepped back, a cry of horror on her lips, a streak of red light came from behind her and hit the man squarely in the chest. He dropped to the ground, limp and unmoving.

"Who's out there?!" one of the other men yelled into the darkness. "Show yourself, you coward!"

There was no answering voice. Instead, two more flashes of red light shot forward, hitting both men in the chest. They met the same fate as their companion, crumpled on the ground.

Eliza whirled around to face where the light came from, her feet carrying her back a few steps. "W-Who's o-out t-there?" she stuttered out.

Out of the darkness stepped out two men, both carrying sticks that Eliza recognized as wands. _'Wizards,'_ her mind said helpfully.

"We mean you no trouble," one of them said. "My name is Avery, and this is my companion Austin. We heard shouting and came to investigate."

"You heard shouting?" Eliza questioned in confusion.

"Our village is just beyond these trees," Avery commented helpfully.

"Oh," Eliza replied. She didn't know what else to say; her mind was numb and her body was tired.

"Why don't you come with me to our village," Avery suggested not unkindly. "You and your child could rest there and maybe explain what it is that brought you here."

Eliza couldn't help but sag in relief. "Thank you," she said gratefully. "Thank you so much."

"It is no trouble," Avery replied. He turned to the man next to him. "Take care of these three will you?"

"Sure," Austin said before stepping forward.

"Come on," Avery said to Eliza as he gestured towards the land beyond the trees. Let's get you settled. Oh, before I forget, what is your name?"

"Eliza," she said as she fell into step beside him, gripping her son tighter against her chest and hitching the strap of the satchel higher on her shoulder again. "Eliza Peverell."

* * *

Harry Potter gasped as the pensieve ejected him from Eliza Peverell memories. After confirming he was indeed of Peverell descent, he was allowed into the Peverell vault at Gringotts. Inside was a pensieve that he was sucked into when he leaned too far over it.

"Well," Harry muttered to himself. "I was not expecting my day to go like this."

_~END~_


End file.
